Tagged: Pretty In Pinstripes Challenge

The second installment of the Yankees-Red Sox Drama was a great performance by our boys in pinstripes. Well, it was at Fenway Park, so I guess I should say our boys in gray. As with the majority of games in baseball, there were positives and there were negatives. Obviously the good outweighed the bad, otherwise we wouldn’t have won.

A.J. Burnett was alright. His performance wasn’t something I’d want to see from him in a month from now, but for his first start, it was good. His first-pitch fastballs were predictable to hitters, but I’m sure that’s something he and Jorge can learn for next outing. His pitches were out of control at times, but Posada seemed to be able to settle him down. It was nice to see good chemistry between A.J. and Jorge.

Alfredo looked as great as he always does coming out of the bullpen as a middle reliever. He held the score to a tie, and had an impressive couple of innings. Nick Johnson didn’t have a single hit, but he still managed to get on base every time he was up. He’s doing exactly what we acquired him to do.

Derek Jeter made a couple of amazing plays, to show the world that he is still a top class shortstop. Way to shut the haters up, Jeter!

There were several other positives in the game, but Joba’s performance takes the cake.

Joba Chamberlain had a wonderful outing. His fastball got up to 96 MPH again, and he struck out the two batters he faced: Adrian Beltre and J.D. Drew. Jorge Posada said it best: “What we saw from Joba today was something out of 2007”. Well said, Hip Hip Jorge.

I was sitting in my living room, watching the game that started at 3:10 a.m. here in Dubai. I was starting to feel exhausted from a combination of staying up all night to watch the game, and the emotionally draining experience that is known as a Yankees-Red Sox matchup. Joba came in to pitch at around 6:15 in the morning. After Joba struck J.D. Drew out to end the inning, he gave us a further sense of his 2007 ways by pumping his fist in celebration. I have to admit, seeing Chamberlain’s emotion after a job well-done reenergized me, and made me pump my own fist and shout “HELL YEAH!“, waking my roommates up.

I loved it. I loved every single part of it. I loved seeing his composure on the mound. I loved seeing his amazing slider and his hot fastball. I loved seeing his raw emotion as he pumped his fist in the air in celebration.

What annoyed me, however, was seeing a lot of the reactions to Joba’s fist pumping after he struck Drew out to end the inning. A lot of people were making comments such as “Who does he think he is pumping his fist like that?“, “What an idiot, fist pumping like he just won the World Series“, and “Joba is such a screw up. Fist pumps are yet another example of Joba screwing up“.

These comments sound like the typical reactions you’d see from Red Sox fans. So why am I so surprised and annoyed by them? Because they came from Yankees fans! Or, should I say, supposed Yankees “fans”?

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing and reading. Yankees fans were criticizing Joba Chamberlain for showing his emotions after a job well-done. It completely shocked me. Why on Earth would any Yankees fan object to one of our pitchers celebrating a great performance? Why would they be angry about it?

When did the mere display of emotion become such a faux-pas in Yankees Baseball? I would much rather see our players getting emotional about games, than go back to the zombie-like state we were in during the Joe Torre years, where players would only show emotions after winning championship games. Why do we have to wait until October before seeing our players celebrate? There are 162 regular season games in baseball and, as fans, we get emotional about every single one. So why aren’t our players allowed to get emotional about these games, too?

Personally, I grew tired of seeing our players turn into robots for the vast majority of the decade. Before 2009, when was the last time we saw our players having fun during games? 2009 was a breath of fresh air for so many reasons: New stadium, new players, ne
w style, new World Series Championship. The best part of 2009 as a whole was seeing our players having fun. Nick Swisher’s fun-loving attitude, Mark Teixeira’s smiles, and A.J. Burnett’s walk-off pies all added to our team having fun while playing baseball. It was so refreshing to see. I love it when a team shows emotion and heart. I love seeing our boys having fun.

Furthermore, Joba’s reaction was more than warranted. After being jerked around in 2008 and 2009, and being smoked in the majority of his outings, the 2007 Joba finally showed signs of returning. I’d have to see more games in which he dominates the 8th inning before I blatantly claim that the 2007 Joba is back, but what I saw in the second game at Fenway early this morning is a very good sign. Chamberlain felt like he was finally back in the role in which he can succeed, and truly shine as a pitcher. He deserves to pump his fist in celebration, he’s regaining his confidence in himself. To me, Joba looked relieved to pitch in relief again.

Go ahead, Joba, pump your fist. You earned it.

Also, I couldn’t care less what Joba does to celebrate, as long as he gives us a performance worth celebrating. He can strip down and run around the field in his boxer-briefs after striking out the batters he faces, for all I care. He can do backflips, kiss the umpires, high-five the fans, and whatever else he damn well pleases, as long as he gets the job done. It’s fun to see our pitcher showing emotion. Even more importantly, this display of his feelings shows that he’s got his heart invested in doing well for himself and for our team. It shows that he actually gives a damn about every single game. Why on Earth would anyone complain about seeing that on their own team?

I’ve come to the conclusion that some “fans” do not deserve to call themselves fans. These people who were complaining about Joba’s celebration have never said a positive thing about the Yankees. All they’ve ever done is complain. They stay quiet when things are going well, then as soon as one of our players make a mistake, they jump at the opportunity to criticize.

These very same fans also annoyed me in another instance. They said nothing to praise Derek Jeter for making two amazing defensive plays, but the moment he made a throwing error to Teixeira at first base, these “fans” immediately came out to criticize him. Absolutely disgusting.

These “Yankees fans” annoy me far more than fans of other teams. Yes, they even disgust me more than Red Sox fans. I expect Red Sox fans to criticize every single mistake the Yankees make, because we also criticize every mistake the Red Sox make. I understand it when a fan criticizes his or her own team’s mistakes, as long as they also praise their players when the perform well. Only criticizing and never praising, however, makes you a Yankees Hater, not a Yankees Lover. Putting on the pinstripes doesn’t cover up your constant hate. Wearing the interlocking ‘NY’ over your heart doesn’t give you a free pass to constantly dish out hate against the Yankees. The excuse “Hey, I’m a Yankees fan” doesn’t work when you show nothing but anger and disgust towards the Yankees. So, kindly shut up.

Yankees fans who do nothing but criticize and complain should have their Yankees Fanhood revoked. They don’t deserve to celebrate the glory, because all they do while we’re on the road to that glory is criticize and spew venomous hate. Do yourselves, and real Yankees, fans a favor, and jump onto another bandwagon. We don’t want you in the Bronx.

We lost to the Red Sox on Opening Day. That means we’re definitely going to end up with a losing record this season. Based on what I saw in the game, we’ll have a .450 season. There is no more hope for our Yankees, we might as well not play the remaining 161 games.

CC Sabathia gave up 4 runs. He’s definitely going to suck this year, and he’ll get demoted to the fifth spot in the rotation. In fact, we should probably trade him. He obviously doesn’t have what it takes to be our ace, look at how shaky he was at the end of his outing yesterday. He couldn’t even pitch a complete game! I’m telling you, my friends, there is no hope for CC to recover from this loss. No light at the end of his tunnel. If we get rid of him now, we might have a chance to get something valuable in return.

Also, we need to get rid of Gardner. I don’t care if this was his first time playing in left field, and I don’t care if he only found out that he was playing left field a few days ago. So what? That one throw to home plate shows that he will never have what it takes to be a starting left fielder. He stinks. I can’t believe he’s even a Yankee. We need to trade him now.

Chan Ho Park is horrible, too. What was Cashman thinking when he signed him?

We’re wasting a W-H-O-P-P-I-N-G $1.2 million, and $300 thousand in incentives, on this loser? We don’t have money to waste, people. Look at how we released Chad Gaudin, it was because his salary broke the bank. Park cost us way too much money for him to have such a horrible first inning as a Yankee. We need to release him now. I don’t care if this was his first game at Fenway Park, I don’t care if he was facing some of the stronger hitters in the division. There is no hope for him. He must be released.

Don’t even get me started on Joe Girardi. He needs to be fired right this instant. Leaving Sabathia in when he began to struggle in the first game of the season? Unforgivable. So what if the manager and coaches need to find out what works in the first few games of the season? That’s no excuse for making a season-ending mistake like that. Girardi needs to be fired today.

How about Marte? It’s nice to see that he will never amount to anything, ever. He is doomed to repeat his regular-season performance from last year. Your first inning in the season is the make or break inning. If you mess up, you’re done for the year. No second chances, no make-up games, it’s immediately “off with your head”. Marte’s got to go.

Let’s not forget to mention Joba. Oh boy, what a mess Joba is. He can’t pitch at all, and he’ll never pitch a decent inning after yesterday’s performance. Yesterday was proof that Joba is a total bust. He sucks as a starter, he sucks as a reliever, so he shouldn’t be a Yankee. We should have traded him immediately after the 2008 season. He doesn’t deserve to wear pinstripes.

We need to trade him now.

Nick Swisher is yet another disaster in our outfield. My God, he’s horrible. He allowed one ball, Youkilis’ hit, to roll all the way to the wall! That sort of thing is unacceptable. Swisher can never allow something like that to happen. Since he did, he’s looking at a failure of a season. We need to get rid of him, he’s not a real Yankee anyway
.

How about Cano’s base-running yesterday? Remember his one hit that should have been a double, but Cano misread it and it ended up being a single? He needs to get sent down to the minors for the first half of the season to work on his base-running. That mistake last night is proof that Robinson Cano is one of the most overrated players in Major League Baseball.

Don’t even mention Posada to me. Sure he had a great game offensively, but defensively? That one wild pitch he couldn’t catch or block is proof that Jorge Posada has completely lost his defensive skills. I think it’s about time he retired, or just stayed on the bench for the majority of the season, like Jason Varitek. Cervelli should be our regular catcher, because Posada obviously can’t catch anymore. He’s too old. He needs to stay off the field.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that the world is coming to an end, my friends. Our Yankees are doomed. We have no hope for winning the division or making it to the playoffs. Our season is over in the beginning of April!

The Yankees will finish in the bottom of the division, thanks to last night’s performance. There is no hope for us. The remaining 161 games don’t matter, because the one and only important game in the season has already been lost. We can’t get this game back, so we’re doomed.

Oh well, there’s always next year…

Psych!

Wouldn’t it be funny if I reacted like that after yesterday’s game?

Seriously, who would throw their players under a bus after losing the first game of the season?

A LARGE CHUNK OF YANKEES FANS, that’s who.

I couldn’t believe the reactions I was seeing to yesterday’s game. People were acting like it was the end of the world! Everything I wrote above was said by Yankees fans. Every single thing. Of course, I embellished a bit, worded it a little more eloquently, and removed all profanity, but these were the thoughts of many Yankees fans yesterday.

Disgusting. Absolutely disgusting.

Thank you, my fellow Yankees fans, for once again proving to the world that we are the most spoiled fans in Major League Baseball.

If your reaction to yesterday’s loss was in any way similar to what I wrote above, you need to be b*tchslapped back into reality.

The reality is that it’s just one game, we’re never going to have a 162-0 record, and it was only Opening Night. Luckily, the fate of our Yankees doesn’t depend on the opening game or series. Judging by a large percentage of the reactions yesterday, you would think the Yankees lost Game 5 of the ALDS.

Have we forgotten that we went 0-8 and got swept in our first 3 series against the Red Sox last year? We ended up doing pretty damn well on the year, if I remember correctly. Did we forget that the Yankees have been known to have slow Aprils? It usually works out well for us in the end.

Get a grip, people. Take a Xanax pill and relax. We have 6 more months of baseball. Pace yourselves.